I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself. A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough without ever having felt sorry for itself. - D. H LawrenceIn many combat systems this subject is so far on the back burner I am not sure that it is still lit. It is so taboo that to even mention it causes people to shudder, never mind not coming back to train again, after all protecting ourselves surely cannot involve death, my death; can it? Oh there is abstract talk about it, you know the whole roundabout way in which fighting/combat is discussed etc. But there is no direct implication of the Grim Reaper standing there on your right shoulder waiting until it is your time to travel on, no training on the reality of what your dying will mean for your family, no training to understand and accept that this shit is real. Yes there is reality training to make people better at protecting themselves, but the mind-set for accepting ones own demise is lacking with the exception of ancient texts concerning death and the life of a warrior, which are only read and understood by those who accept to choose a warrior lifestyle, the hardcore who accept who and what they are. One of the biggest obstacles to overcome outside of the military is the acceptance that what we do can get you killed, and for the civilian practicing self protection or the executive protection operator standing in harms way, means that get it wrong or right as the case may be and you may very well die.Nobody in their right mind wants to die, but the reality and fear of it is to some people just not something they can deal with and so they blatently hide their head in the sand or even worse they play at combat thinking they will be ready when the time comes for the physical aspect of self protection.The younger we are, the thoughts of death are a long way in the distance, we have less or nothing to lose, we have that 'Who gives a shit' attitude. The older we get we gather bagagge, responsibilities, family, houses, possessions, money, things. Things that we like, things that we want to hang on to, things we would miss. Even for the young fighting in our military, death; although all around, for the self it still seems a long way a way. Anyone who has ever served will know and recognise this.As we age we become less likely to take risks, we want to live as long as possible and to be able to do this we start to rap ourselves in cotton wool. We no longer want to put ourselves in harms way in any form, never mind in a combat situation.We do not know how long we have to live, we do not know the circumstances of our inevitable passing, some go through the worst danger and emerge without a scratch to live a long life and die peacefully at home. Others die early in some cases it seems needlessly, unluckily or wasteful without ever having achieved anything or had a long enough life. Wherever you are in your life understand that HE is coming never the less.The Hagakure - Book of the Samurai is a collection of commentaries by Yamamoto Tsenetomo, in which he describes how Bushido is a way of 'Dying' or living as if one were already dead. You would think that upon reading that it was written in the feudal era when war was rife, but you would be wrong, it was written in a time of peace. A constant reminder for Samurai to be prepared to die at a moments notice in the protection of their Lord. Would you sacrifice yourself so easily in defence of your loved ones?It would be easy to say to yourself 'Yes' while you are reading this, but have you ever thought about your own ending.

The Valkyrie above is from the old Norse Religious Tradition, today known as Asatru. Fallen warriors who died bravely in battle were thought to have their souls transported to Valhalla to sit in the halls of their ancestors forever, until they are called upon once again to fight in the time of Ragnarok.Do I think the length of our life is written before we are born? Yes I do but not the content. What we do with our lives, how we live our life and ultimately how we face our end is up to us. But come to terms with it, accept it no matter what, it is going to happen but by accepting and living with it it will make life all the more glorious.So seek out and come to terms with your death, if you are already dead what else is there to lose? Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever. - Mahatma GandhiStay DangerousRock